5.  The applicant was born in 1970 and lives in Kikinda.
6.  The applicant is a journalist and member of a political party. At the time of the impugned events, he was also the editor of the local weekly newspaper, Kikindske.
7.  On 3 October 2003 the applicant published an article about a certain historian, J.P., entitled ‘The Floor is Given to the Fascist’ (‘Reč ima fašista’). In his article the applicant wrote:
“J.P., a historian, who during the 1980s and 1990s... used to write kilometres of various insults and defamation concerning the opponents of Milošević and his... regime, has again come to the centre of public attention thanks to... the journalist of Novi Sad TV..., who had invited him as a guest on the show ‘Unbuttoned’. And J.P. would not have been himself (an idiot), if he had not used another opportunity to express his fascist-oriented points of view. This is how he, on a national TV channel..., stated that Baranja was under Croatian occupation and that Slovaks, Romanians and above all Hungarians in Vojvodina were colonists... According to [J.] P., there are no Croats in Vojvodina..., whereas the Hungarians are mainly Slavs... because they have ‘such nice Slavic faces’...
In these three weeks following the show, many NGOs and individuals, as well as a few political parties, uttered their opinions.... [They] requested the Radio Broadcasting Council, relying on point 6 of its recommendation which provides... that ‘all broadcasters were under the obligation to respect... the provisions restraining hate speech’, to take appropriate measures against the [national] TV...
The Minister of Culture and Media and other officials also reacted ...
The latest news indicates that the Radio Broadcasting Agency has been collecting relevant information about the show... Meanwhile, J.P. must be gloating because he has managed once again to launch his twisted attitudes into the public domain. Following the changes of 5 October, this professional ‘long spitter’ was... appointed head of the Serbian History Archive... until recently, when the Government discharged him. He was then granted the opportunity in some tabloids ... to [criticise] the existing Government and the “non-existent nations”. ‘Unbuttoned’ was just the last episode of this activist... who will undoubtedly... contaminate our environment for a long time to come.”
8.  On 10 October 2003 J.P. instituted private criminal proceedings for insult against the applicant in the Kikinda Municipal Court.
9.  At the hearing held on 17 November 2003, the applicant stated that “he did not wish to settle the matter with the private prosecutor [J.P.] because he was a member of the fascist movement in Serbia”. On account of this statement, on 5 January 2004 J.P. instituted new private criminal proceedings for defamation against the applicant.
10.  Territorial jurisdiction in the matter was subsequently transferred to the Zrenjanin Municipal Court, which decided to join the two cases.
11.  The court scheduled a hearing for 15 April 2004, the summons for which was served on the applicant along with J.P.’s second criminal bill of indictment on 11 March 2004. The applicant did not attend the hearing.
12.  The court scheduled the next hearing for 23 September 2004, for which the applicant received the summons on 24 June 2004. He again failed to appear in court.
13.  The applicant submits that none of those court summons were served on him properly, since they had been sent to the address of the newspaper, where he was no longer employed. However, he appears to have personally signed acknowledgments of receipt forms for both summons.
14.  At the next main hearing on 15 December 2004, the applicant was escorted to court by the police. His lawyer met him in the court building and made a request to the judge for a postponement of the hearing with a view to acquainting himself with the charges at issue.
15.  The presiding judge granted the applicant and his lawyer 30 minutes to prepare the applicant’s defence. After 20 minutes the applicant’s lawyer stated that they were ready for the hearing.
16.  The court held the main hearing and gave judgment that same day, finding the applicant guilty of insult for the published article and of defamation for the statement given at the court hearing of 17 November 2003. The court fined the applicant 15,000 Serbian dinars (RSD, approximately 162 euros (EUR)), and ordered him to pay J.P. another RSD 20,700 (approximately EUR 225) in respect of the costs of the proceedings.
17.  In its judgment the Zrenjanin Municipal Court held, inter alia, that describing someone as a “fascist” was offensive, given the historical connotations of that expression “representing tragedy and evil”. The court rejected the applicant’s argument that he was merely expressing his own political views, since forming fascist political parties or movements was illegal under domestic law. The applicant had consequently failed to respect the human dignity of J.P. If he had felt personally offended by any of J.P.’s statements made on the television programme or elsewhere, the applicant should have sought appropriate judicial relief.
18.  On an appeal by the applicant, on 9 March 2005 the Zrenjanin District Court upheld the first-instance judgment. The court concluded that J.P.’s statements were a product of his expert findings as a historian. Since the word “fascism” meant the extinction of people based on their nationality and/or religion, this had clearly not been the object of J.P.’s statements. The applicant’s article had thus the sole aim of insulting J.P. by using this term and additionally calling him “an idiot”.
19.  The second-instance court further found the applicant’s allegations of improper summoning and an inability to prepare his defence ill-founded, establishing that he had been duly summoned twice but had failed to appear in court. Moreover, at the hearing on 15 December 2004 the applicant and his lawyer had been given the opportunity to consult and prepare his defence, and they had stated after 20 minutes that they were ready for the hearing.
20.  It appears that J.P. instituted another set of proceedings against the applicant – a civil claim for compensation for non-pecuniary damage – and that the domestic courts ordered the applicant to pay him compensation in the sum of RSD 50,000 (approximately EUR 540). However, the applicant did not include these proceedings in his complaints raised before the Court.